Happy Christmas, Family Malfoy
by Hopeakaarme
Summary: A sequel to Happy Schoolday, Keith Lupin. Severus is far too fertile for his own good and unfitted for pregnancy. This is not a good combination, especially with ten kids running around and triplets being on the way. COMPLETE.SLASH & MPREG RLSB SSLM
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: I own very little.

A/N: Yeah, so I'm starting a new fic again... But then again, what did you expect?

A sequel to _Happy Birthday, Remus Lupin, Happy Very First Birthday, Baby Lupin,_ and _Happy Schoolday, Keith Lupin_. As you can probably tell from the title, the main focus is going to change, but Remus, Sirius, and Keith will remain in the story.

Oh, and how did I think about putting so many kids there? Well, when I'd written _The Empty Cradle_, many people kept telling me that Sirius and Remus had a lot of kids in that. And I, who thought had given them a rather small family so they could manage easily, decided to show you what a _big_ family is really like. I know it from personal experience.

SLASH and MPREG. Don't like, don't read. Simple as that.

* * *

Happy Christmas, Family Malfoy 

Chapter 1

* * *

The happy laughter of many children echoed through the halls and chambers of the Malfoy Manor. The tall blond man walking through the corridor didn't bat an eyelid as he saw two children running past him, laughing madly. As they didn't seem to be up to no good, there was no reason to stop them. Neither did he try to stop the even smaller child hurrying after the two boys on her two little feet, giggling as she fell over. Not pouring a tear over her fall, she pushed herself back to her feet and trotted off, although not without giving him an adorable smile that still lacked teeth, and a delighted call of, "Fathew!" 

The next child he came across, however, would not be ignored that easily. The little boy wrapped his short arms around the man's legs, hugging him tightly. "Father!" he exclaimed. "When will Mariah come home? And when will it be Christmas? I want them both already, _now_!"

"Patience, Marius," chuckled the tall wizard as he picked up his middle son. "Mariah will come home from Hogwarts eventually, and after that, it'll also be Christmas. You still have to wait over a month, though." Placing a gentle kiss on top of the boy's darkhaired head, he then asked, "Do you know where Dad is?"

"Dad left just a while ago," said another boy, who just had come to sight around the corner. "He said he had some business to attend to in the castle of Hogwarts, and that he will be back by dinner."

Lucius smirked slightly at his eldest son's manner of speech. Janus had always been that way. Even when he'd been just a little baby, he'd always said, "Dad," right away, never "Da" or "Dada" like their other children. Other than his "fun talk," like little Sirius called it, Janus was also showing signs of being even worse a bookworm than his carrier, whom he was a spitting image of.

As soon as he thought more about Janus's words, however, Lucius frowned. "Did he say what kind of business he has there?" he asked. For anything he knew, his husband should have had nothing to do at the school. However, he could indeed think of a possible reason and if it was true, he was in for it.

"No, he didn't," Janus replied. "Maybe he's sick, though. I recall him talking about Madam Pomfrey."

Now, Lucius sighed. There was only one occasion in which Severus would go to see Poppy Pomfrey. And, if his doubts were confirmed this time, too, he might actually fulfill his threat and castrate Lucius. After all, if the result was positive, it would be the ninth time one of them got pregnant. Considering that Lucius had been pregnant only once, and even then he'd had almost no complications at all, nor had he experienced any of the other problems that always bothered Severus during his own pregnancies, it was not a miracle if the darkhaired wizard was quite fed up with it all.

"Thank you, Janus," he said, sighing a bit as he put Marius back down to the floor. "Now, run along, you two. I have to check that Juliah is being properly cared for." The two boys both nodded, then ran off well, Janus only walked with a book tucked under his arm, but then again, he'd never been as wild as the majority of his sisters and brothers. Really, they were worse than a hurricane at times.

Lucius sighed and shook his head. It wasn't that he didn't love each and every one of his children, no, he wouldn't have exchanged them for anything. However, he did think that ten kids were quite enough two of their eight pregnancies had produced a set of twins. Well, they had originally thought that _three_ would be quite enough, but their efforts had been for naught when they'd tried to stop more children from coming. Finally, when everything else had failed, they'd resigned to the fact that their family was bigger than even the Weasleys'. At least they could support their huge family with no problems at all.

However, even though all their children were certainly wanted and heartily welcomed, it didn't mean that they had all been originally wished for. In fact, it had been rather the opposite. When Severus had fallen pregnant for the fourth time despite the contraception charms they'd used, Lucius had secretly hoped that he would just miscarry the child. It wasn't like he had hoped for his child's death, no. During his third pregnancy, however, Severus'd had a lot of complications. True, carrying Mariah and Hannah hadn't been easy on him, either, but with Janus, it had been many times worse. Lucius had simply considered losing an unborn child less grave than losing both the child and his beloved husband. When all had been over and Draconah and Lucius, their first set of twins, had been born safely and without further complications, Lucius had been relieved. That was, until Severus had fallen pregnant again.

True enough, wizards could get pregnant just as well as witches. Nothing wrong with that. However, Severus's body was somehow different from that of most wizards, and was unfitted for pregnancy. Unfortunately, Severus was also especially fertile. Like they'd noticed, nothing short of sterilization could stop him from becoming pregnant, and Lucius wasn't sure if even that would work, knowing his husband.

It was really unfair, though. Malfoys, who had certainly enough children, got more and more of them despite their attempts to the opposite. Meanwhile, Lupins only had young Keith, even though they certainly wouldn't have minded many more. Now, when Mariah and Keith had started Hogwarts, Lucius and Severus had still nine other children to look after, but Remus and Sirius were left with a painfully empty house. Sure, there was no way Lucius could have given up any of his dear children, but at times he couldn't help thinking that it might have been better if their friends had got some of the kids instead of them. Those children would have been welcomed with even more love and care than theirs, if possible.

But that wasn't the case. In reality, the Lupins were destined to have only one child, while the Malfoys could do nothing to stop their already enormous herd from growing even further.

Well, that couldn't be helped. Thus, it was no use to spend all his time thinking about it.

No, he had to concentrate on thinking about how he could stay alive if Severus indeed was pregnant.

* * *

Next chapter: 

Quite obviously, Severus comes home. And tells Lucius whether he's pregnant.


	2. Chapter 2

Disclaimer: I own very little.

A/N: Somewhere halfway through this chap, the whole story got out of my hands. However, I quite like the direction it's going to, so never mind.

* * *

Happy Christmas, Family Malfoy 

Chapter 2

* * *

Dinnertime came, but Severus hadn't returned yet. Lucius tried not to worry after all, why should he have done that? Severus had every right to go out of the Manor for a while. So, he concentrated on scolding Sirius and Remus, who kept playing with their food, and trying to get Juliah's food go to the girl's mouth instead of all over her. After the children had been more or less fed, he told them to go to play for a while before they had to go to sleep. Needless to say, they were rather eager to do that. 

So, after a moment, he sat in the master sitting room with Juliah while the rest of his offsprings were doing a fairly good job at wrecking the Manor in whole. His youngest daughter, who was still too young to properly appreciate the art of mischief-making, was happily sitting on the floor and playing with her favourite stuffed unicorn. Lucius himself, however, was far from calm or happy. Instead, he was scared, and worried out of his usually so calm and controlled mind.

Of course he kept telling himself that even if Severus _was_ pregnant, everything would still go just right. Remus would take care of that, if nobody else. Their werewolf friend had helped Severus through his last six pregnancies, and become a rather good "midhusband," like Sirius sometimes teasingly called him. However, like an annoying voice in the back of his mind kept telling him, not even Remus could do everything. Each of Severus's pregnancies had been more difficult than the previous one. With Juliah, it had been pure hell just how bad could it be this time?

So, he was torn between relieved and terrified as the flames in the fireplace flared high and then the dark form of his husband stepped out. Lucius rose up to greet his husband. However, as he took a closer look at Severus, he froze. True, Severus rarely looked too happy right after finding out about yet another baby being on the way, but never before had he seen this look of utter mortification on his husband's face. Severus looked scared. The only times Lucius had seen the darkhaired wizard scared before had been the few times they had almost lost one of their precious children. And not any of those could match this horror.

"Severus?" he asked, immediately concerned. "Love, what is wrong? What has happened?"

Now, the jet-black eyes were shot to him, and he saw the horror there. "Lucius, I'm pregnant," he said quietly, his voice hardly more than a whisper. "I just found out about it."

"Well, I figured out as much as Janus said you'd gone to see Poppy," Lucius said calmly. "But being pregnant has never scared you like this before. What exactly is wrong, Severus dear?"

"I'm two months pregnant," Severus whispered, "and there are already some complications." Now, Lucius shot him an alarmed look. This did not sound good. However, just as the blond opened his mouth to talk, Severus raised a hand to silence him. "That's not all," he said quietly. "Lucius... I'm having triplets."

For a moment, Lucius just stared at him, the words not sinking in. Then he finally started to understand the full implications of this news. After Janus, every pregnancy Severus had experienced had at some point or another threatened to take his life. Their two sets of twins had been the hardest on Severus, who had enough problems with a single child, leave alone two.

In fact, with Remus and Sirius, they had for a moment thought that he was already lost. That had definitely been the most terrifying moment in Lucius's life. He'd been pacing in the next room, having been driven there by Remus and a mediwitch from St. Mungo's. And then Remus had come, tears streaming down his pale face, and said that it was very probable that neither Severus nor the babies would live. But with some miracle that nobody had been able to explain to that day, Severus had survived. So had the babies, although they wouldn't have if Remus hadn't given some of his own life power to them. Little Remus had been then named after his saviour, and his twin had been named Sirius. Sometimes Lucius said that he had given the beginning to the twins, Severus had given birth to them, and Remus had given life to them.

But death had been indeed near to Severus that one time. With Juliah, it had been only slightly better. What could happen now, when there were three babies? And if he already had complications...

Just as Lucius opened his mouth to call out the inevitable, however, Severus raised again a hand to silence him. As Lucius closed his mouth again, not saying a word, Severus said sharply, "I will not abort them. No matter what you say, Lucius, I will not abort my babies." He wrapped his arms around his stomach.

"But you might die, Severus," Lucius said softly. "I couldn't live with myself if you died because of this. And, considering the medical history of our family, those babies won't survive anyway."

Now, his husband gave him a sharp glare. "Either way," he said, "at least it won't be me who kills them."

Now, the blond just sighed, and then drew the shorter man into his arms. "I don't want anything to happen to you, Severus, for any reason," he said softly. "I love you far too much to lose you."

And then it was Severus's turn to sigh. "I know, Lucius," he said softly. "Believe me, I know." After they had stayed like that for some time, Severus tightly held in Lucius's arms, the darkhaired wizard then decided to speak up. "You did make sure the kids did their homework, didn't you?"

At this, Lucius couldn't help but laugh a bit. "Well, you certainly do know how to kill the mood," he said teasingly. "Yes, I did make sure about that. Everybody has done their homework even Draconah."

Five of the Malfoy children, Hannah, Janus, Draconah, Lucius, and Marius, attended to the Hogsmeade Pre-Wizarding School. Needless to say, their parents were the founders of the school. As most of Severus's time was spent either pregnant or recovering from his last pregnancy, he couldn't look after their ever-growing herd and take care of their pre-Hogwarts education. However, they didn't want to let somebody else to do that. Therefore, Lucius had decided to found a new school that all Wizarding children could attend to before Hogwarts instead of being taught home or attending to a Muggle school. So, from age four and up, the Hogsmeade Pre-Wizarding School nowadays held most of the Wizarding children in the country as its pupils. The building was large nowhere near Hogwarts, of course, but certainly big enough to hold all the thousand or so children inside. Even the Malfoy kids could be kept inside, although they were doing a fairly good job at bringing the school down.

Of course, the teachers had soon come to notice that the Malfoy children were not that easy to deal with. Well, Hannah wasn't that bad, and Janus certainly didn't cause any problems, but the rest were like little whirlwinds. Lucius suspected, however, that the teachers would stop calling his other children wild the very moment Remus and Sirius set a foot into the school, which wasn't even a year afar.

Now, Severus raised an eyebrow. "There was a mood to be ruined?" he asked. "I didn't notice." Then, seeing Lucius's expression, he smirked, and then sighed a bit tiredly. "See, Lucius, I only want to rest now," he said. "Like I said, Poppy noticed some complications that caused me to be ill more frequently and violently than usually. She did give me a potion against that, but it makes me sleepy."

Of course, Lucius was unable to resist this request. So, he picked up Juliah and led his husband to their bedroom. After seeing that Severus was resting in a comfortable position in their bed, he then went to usher the children back to their beds as well.

All the time, however, he kept thinking about Severus and their future triplets. If everything went well, of course. But everything would, wouldn't it?

Well, he did hope that with everything he had.

* * *

A/N: Next chapter: 

Unless I change my mind, we'll see how Mariah and Keith are doing at Hogwarts.


	3. Chapter 3

Disclaimer: I own very little.

A/N: I'm delighted to see that you people like this fic. It's rather easy to me to write about a large family, as I'm the oldest of 13.

* * *

Happy Christmas, Family Malfoy 

Chapter 3

* * *

"So, was your dad here?" asked Keith as Mariah sat down next to him in the Ravenclaw table. Everybody had thought that he would end up in Gryffindor, and she would go to Slytherin. Well, everybody but their parents, who had remembered where they'd originally been Sorted to as babies. Everybody else, however, had thought that such an early Sorting could not have any impact on their lives later, and especially the Heads of Gryffindor and Slytherin had been hopeful. The Lupins and Malfoys had been the favourite students of their respective Heads of House, and that hadn't been forgotten. However, Mariah and Keith had both been Sorted into the House of Ravenclaw, and had enjoyed greatly their time here. 

The girl smiled happily and nodded, pushing a lock of black hair behind his ear. She was one of the black-haired Malfoys, complete with the jet-black eyes. She, Hannah, Lucius, Marius, and Severah all had black hair, while the others had, quite surprisingly, red hair. They'd decided that it was due to some odd gene switch somewhere far up in Severus's family and ignored the fact that other than in number, half of their children also resembled Weasleys in appearance. Anyway, Mariah was of the darkest type of Malfoys, as was Marius. Now, her black eyes were twinkling with excitement as she leant towards her friend and whispered, "Guess what? He was seeing Madam Pomfrey. He's pregnant once again!"

"What?" Now, Keith's eyes widened. "Merlin," he breathed. "Like there weren't already enough of you creating havoc. I don't think this school will still be standing by the time the last of you has graduated." The boy had black hair to match his friend's, but his eyes were a warm amber. Although this was not the eye colour his Dad had been born with, it did not mean that he was a werewolf just that the Lycanthropy had changed even Remus's genealogy. And, as Keith was the only child and would remain so, Lycanthropy would not carry on to the future generations of Lupins.

Although he truly was happy for his friend, and was glad seeing Mariah so excited, Keith couldn't force down the hint of envy that was trying to approach the surface of his mind. He'd practically grown up as a yet another Malfoy kid, and the whole herd was like his own family. However, there would always be those times when it was just him and his parents, and he'd feel so lonely, knowing that Mariah had a lot of siblings around her. Especially much this saddened him whenever his Daddy was fuming about yet another werewolf restriction and his Dad was trying to calm him down, a sad look in his eyes.

Keith just couldn't believe the cruelness of some people. His fathers were the best parents anybody could have, so why couldn't they have more kids? Not only were there the general restrictions and those, but they were also keeping a close watch on their family especially, as they'd managed to have Keith. He'd heard that at one point the Ministry had even tried to take him away from his fathers, but Lucius's power in the Ministry had stopped those bastards. Nowadays, it was a little better as his Daddy was working at the Werewolf Department in the Ministry, but only a little. And it would never be really all right.

Then, however, he noticed Mariah's frown. "I think something's wrong, though," the girl said quietly. "He of course tried to hide it, but I saw he was scared. I've never seen him that scared before, Keith. True, he was frightened whenever one of the babies was in danger, but he was terrified now." With a sigh, she finished, "I truly hope there's nothing wrong with the baby. It's difficult enough to him as it is."

"I hope so, too." For a moment, Keith was quiet, watching his friend pick at her dinner. Then he asked, "By the way, did you already finish that Transfiguration essay?"

"No, I didn't," Mariah said, immediately cheering up as she got something else to think about than her dad's problems with babies. "I know that you haven't done it, either, so what about we both go to the library now and try to get it finally done?"

Keith grinned at her. "Sounds like a brilliant idea," he agreed, secretly cheering himself for being able to make Mariah forget her worries. Most said that he was the serious one of their pair, but really, Mariah was the one who worried too much. She was much like Severus in that aspect, always worried for somebody.

So, after dinner, they headed for the library to work on their Transfiguration essay. There they met up with their friend Chass Mewl, a very wild and cheerful boy that for some undefined reason had been, obviously mistakenly, placed in Slytherin. With him they saw Marine Sweet, a girl who was everything but worth her name. Sweet was far from the nasty, stuck-up Slytherin who considered herself better than anybody else.

"Hi, Mariah!" greeted Chass, waving madly at them. "Any news from your family lately?"

"Why so, Chass?" asked Mariah, smirking. "Still intent on that record-breaking family?"

It was their very own joke that some day, Chass was going to "break the record" and get a family even bigger than the Malfoys'. However, like Keith had pointed out, that was unlikely, unless he married a Weasley. And, like Chass had said, that was exactly what he should do, just to "show his parents." He'd certainly caused already enough dismay to his parents, who, while nice and caring, much like Mariah's fathers, were still Slytherins to the core.

"Well, somebody has to do that, right?" Chass was one big smile. "I still have to find somebody willing to carry all those babies, though. And if that doesn't manage, I guess I'll just have to do it myself."

"You're not serious," spat Marine. At her companions' confused gazes, she continued, "Male pregnancies are unnatural. I don't think that a true human child could be born from such an abnormal process. Pregnant men are just freaks, and everybody accepting them is seriously twisted."

Chass, who was much better aware of the two Ravenclaws' families than his housemate, looked horrified. To his great surprise, however, Mariah and Keith didn't explode instantly.

"What do you think, Keith?" asked Mariah calmly. "Was he insulting us?"

The boy pretended to be thinking. "You know, Mariah," he said then, "I fear that he insulted pretty badly us both and our whole families, and everybody who's voluntarily in contact with us."

"Very well." Turning towards Marine, Mariah fixed her a cold glare. "Get out of my way, you little hypocrite," she said coolly. "This one time, I'll let you slide. However, if I ever hear you insulting me or my friends again, I will make you regret it. And believe me, the teachers would be on _our_ side."

"What?" sputtered the other girl. "You're not saying that "

"Yes, I am. I have two fathers instead of a father and a mother. So does Keith, and so do all my nine siblings. And before you even start, I'll let you know that my Father was the leader of Slytherin in his own time. I don't think _you_ can say the same of your own parents." She glared at her again.

"She's right, you know," Chass said calmly. "Lucius Malfoy and Severus Snape. My father has told many stories of their school times. Whatever pranks the Slytherins pulled, or whatever school rules they broke, those two always knew of it, and had usually even orchestrated the whole thing. The best of it, however, was the fact that they never got caught." With a grin, he added, "Severus was pregnant with Mariah on their sixth year, and nobody ever noticed. How's that for sneaky Slytherin cunning?"

For a moment, Marine just stared at them, looking scandalized. Then, she turned on her heels, and stormed off. The three friends just glanced at each other, then shook their heads, amused.

What the two boys didn't notice, however, was the hint of worry in Mariah's chuckles. The Slytherin girl's hateful words had served the dark-haired girl well to remember her Dad's horror. And as her Dad was never afraid unless something was _seriously_ wrong, something had to be, well, seriously wrong.

And her Dad and unborn babies were combined, something being seriously wrong rarely brought anything good about. Rather just tears and pain.

And that was enough to make her worry.

* * *

Next chapter:

Some of Lucius and Severus's sweet home life... with lots of kids.


	4. Chapter 4

Disclaimer: I own very little.

A/N: So. You wanted Severus/Lucius and the kids, so you'll get Severus/Lucius and the kids. Happy now?

* * *

Happy Christmas, Family Malfoy 

Chapter 4

* * *

Severus rested his forehead against the toilet bowl, shivering. Then, however, another bout of nausea hit him, and he again started to throw up into the bowl. After some time there was nothing that could come up anymore, but that certainly didn't keep him from heaving. At last, he collapsed onto the floor, pressing his head against the cool surface of the floor and tried to stop the shivers running through his body. 

The thoroughly exhausted man didn't even hear the approaching footsteps. He just suddenly noticed that he was being taken to somebody's supporting arms. This somebody wiped away the locks of raven hair that was glued to his sweaty forehead, then brought a glass of water onto his lips. "Drink," said a voice, a soothing, calming voice with a hint of worry within. Lucius's voice.

Severus drank the water, grateful to get the taste of vomit out of his mouth. Then he leant back against his husband's chest, sighing. "I feel awful," he muttered weakly. "Simply awful."

"I bet you do, love," Lucius murmured quietly. "It's easy to believe that it's harder than usually this time. However, I simply can't understand how you could have kept this in secret from me so long."

"It wasn't that difficult," Severus muttered, a slight flush of shame rising to his cheeks. "I simply slipped a fast-sleeping potion into your tea every night, then got up before the potion let you wake. When you got up, I'd always already got over the worst part of it."

Lucius frowned. "That was a stupid thing to do, Severus, and you know it," he said sternly. "You really should have told me. I'd have wanted to support you right from the beginning."

"It doesn't matter," the darkhaired man replied briefly. "I have survived it this far, haven't I?" He laughed a bit bitterly. "Although I'm not sure I will survive it all," he mumbled.

Lucius's expression darkened. "Don't talk like that," he said sternly. "Of course you will survive. If you truly think Remus and I are going to let you die, you have another thing coming." Sighing, he then wrapped his arms around his husband, who soon would not be as slender as he still was. "I wouldn't wish for any of our children to become inexistent," he said quietly, "but I do admit that I'd prefer a bit less children. Not that there were too many of them, no, Merlin forbid, I could never give up any of them. I just hope you hadn't had to go through so much for them."

His husband just gave him a weak smile. "I do rather carry this burden than that of Remus and Sirius," he said. "I couldn't imagine my life with no children running around. And besides," he added then, "I have already had rest, now haven't I? Juliah's over a year old now."

"Yes," Lucius admitted, "but you had over two years of rest after Remus and Sirius, as I had Severah, and you still had a lot of problems with Juliah. What can it now be like, with triplets?"

"I don't know," murmured Severus, still resting against his husband. "Not easy, that I do know -- but I also think that it will indeed be worth it." Then he added, "It always has been this far."

Lucius could do little but agree with that notion. True, no matter how difficult it may seem while on the way, every child was a miracle and definitely worth all the difficulties of the pregnancy.

But still he didn't voice his agreement. That was because he didn't think that anything could be worth losing his precious husband. Not anything.

* * *

"Hey, Mother!" said Julian Tawny happily to her mother, Savanna Tawny. "Guess what? There are a couple of really cool kids in my class! I have already made a couple of friends!" 

"Don't say, 'cool kids,' Julian," his mother scolded. "Say 'interesting acquitances.'" She shook her head, hoping that those "friends" wouldn't be too bad. If they were, then it would be obvious that it had been a mistake to put her only son into this school. At first, both Savanna and her husband had been very reluctant to put their heir into such a place, thinking that only the lower class went there. Then, however, they had heard that the Malfoys had founded the school because they didn't want a tutor to spoil their children and didn't have the time to teach them themselves. So, they had indeed put Julian into the Hogsmeade Pre-Wizarding School, hoping that he would make friends with the Malfoy heir. Contacts were always good.

Now they especially needed valuable contacts, as they'd been out of the country for over ten years already. Savanna didn't even know whom the previous Malfoy heir had married, although she was determined to find out. Probably Narcissa Black for all she knew. She'd seen the slut when Narcissa'd been just a little girl, and had seen that she'd already set her eyes on young Lucius. And she always got what she wanted.

"These two boys are really interesting, though," Julian said, not as enthusiastically as first but still very cheerful. He obviously needed some manners to be taught to him. "Their names are Janus and Ronald. Janus is a real bookworm, and Ronald is always laughing, but they are still friends. And guess what?" The boy's face lit up with excitement again. "They both have red hair, just like me!"

Now, Savanna's heart clenched. That did not promise good. She knew only three families in the whole Britain Wizarding World who had ever produced redhaired offsprings: The Tawnies, the Prewetts, and the Weasleys. As she already knew that Julian had no relatives in the school, being the only heir to the family, his new friends could only be Prewetts or, even worse, Weasleys.

"They both have really big families, though," Julian said. "Ron has five brothers and a sister. And Janus has four brothers and five sisters! Can you even imagine that many kids?"

"Julian," his mother said sternly, "I don't think those children are good influence to you. You should not make friends with them. Try to find and befriend the Malfoy heir instead, do you understand?"

Now, Julian frowned in confusion. "But Janus _is_ the Malfoy heir!" he announced.

For a moment, Savanna just stared at her son, her mouth hanging open. Then she turned to look as Julian exclaimed, "Look! There's Janus and his sisters and brothers, and Ronald is there, too!"

Truly, there was a bunch of children some way from them. Savanna quickly counted three black heads and six red ones. One child in particular caught her eye. He had flaming red hair, but otherwise his features reminded her of someone. After a moment of thinking, it hit her. The boy looked exactly like young Severus Snape, except for the hair.

The witch was just about to say something as a carriage drove into the school yard and stopped in front of the children. At the same time, a motherly-looking woman with red hair walked to them as well, and she was greeted by many enthusiastic voices. As soon as the carriage's door was opened, however, these voices started to shout at the new arrivers. A tall, blond man stepped calmly out, a small, squirming red-haired boy on each arm. He set the boys onto the ground, and they immediately started to run around, hugging everybody and laughing and shouting.

"Oi, Father!" one of the red-haired girls said. "Ginny asked me and Luce to go to the Burrow. May I?"

"If it is okay with Molly," the tall man said calmly, looking at the red-haired woman questioningly. "Is it, Molly?" he then asked levelly, raising an eyebrow in question.

The woman smiled warmly. "Of course it is," she said. "The kids have been getting in trouble all the time lately. Maybe it'd be better if they got some energy out of their system with a friend around."

Now, the blond chuckled dryly. "You obviously forget that my children are more than well capable of creating havoc all on their own," he said. "Very well. If you think you can handle them, why not."

"Cool!" elder of the darkhaired boys exclaimed. "Now we can finally have that Quidditch match!"

"You will lose," said the eldest boy smoothly. "You're all just little kids. We will win."

"Who said you're going, anyway?" snapped the eldest of the children, a darkhaired girl. "And if you are going, then I am going, too! I want to play with Fred and George!"

Now, the blond man sighed. "Can you handle them, Molly?" he asked. "Janus and Hannah aren't as bad as the others, true, but they can get a bit too eager at times. It might get difficult."

The woman just laughed. "Lucius, three of my children are already away," she said with a warm smile. "Janus will go finely as Percy, Hannah can play Charlie's and Bill's parts, and I won't even notice your twins when my own get their speed up. They can all come, it's fine with me, really."

"If that is so, I am grateful," the blond -- Lucius? Not Lucius _Malfoy_? -- said, shaking his head as he watched his children jumping at each other's neck in excitement. "They're welcome to come to the Manor for some revenge later, of course. Now, was there anything else, or can we go now?" he asked then from the children, snatching the still running little boys back into his arms without even looking at them.

"Hey!" exclaimed one of the two eldest boys, the one who didn't look like Severus Snape. "If Janus is coming, what about Julian? Can he come, too? He's a new boy in our class," he added in explanation, "and he's kind of cool. I'd like to play with him for some time." To Savanna's shock, he was indeed pointing at _her_ Julian. And if she wasn't badly mistaken, most of those children were Malfoys. What exactly was happening to the world? Malfoys weren't meant to have many children, _especially_ not red-haired children.

"I'll go to ask his mother," the blond said. He then started to approach Savanna, one squirming boy on each arm again. "Good evening," he said, nodding slightly at her as he came near enough. "I am Lucius Malfoy. My son's going to play with a friend for this evening, and they would seemingly want your son to join them. Is there any way that might be possible?"

Now, Julian was hopping up and down. "May I, Mother?" he pleaded. "Please, may I go?"

For a moment, Savanna looked at her. Then she looked at Malfoy. Children or no children, a Malfoy was always a Malfoy -- and thus, they were always valuable acquittances. "Very well," she said. "If they are worthy playmates for a Malfoy, I guess they are that for my son, too. I am Savanna Tawny, by the way."

"Ah, yes. You've been out of the country for quite a while, haven't you?" Malfoy raised an eyebrow, smirking a bit. "Anyway, I'm sure Mrs. Weasley will see that your son gets home before night. I'm afraid I can't talk with you right now; my husband's at home with our two youngest children and would undoubtedly be rather unsatisfied with me if I were to linger. So, good evening, Mrs. Tawny."

With that, he turned away, walking back towards the children, while Julian ran past him to see his new "friends". Soon most of the children followed the red-haired woman, Mrs. Weasley, to the direction of the nearby Floo station, while Mr Malfoy took the two smallest red-haired boys and a darkhaired one into the carriage. The carriage started to move, and then suddenly just disappeared. Charmed -- and expensive.

No, Malfoys seemingly did not change that much in the end. Still, Savanna was rather bewildered as she headed home to tell her husband that Julian was indeed in worthy company.

* * *

A/N: Hee hee... Slytherins all around... 

Next chapter: The Lupins are back in the picture!


	5. Chapter 5

Disclaimer: I own very little.

A/N: You wanted Lupins. You get Lupins. Happy now?

Oh, and a warning: It's quite short...

* * *

Happy Christmas, Family Malfoy 

Chapter 5

* * *

"Oi! Anybody home?" called out the darkhaired man as he walked further into the house. "Remus?" 

"Over here, Sirius," came the response to his call from the nearby room. "We've got an owl from Keith, I'm currently reading it. Would you care to see it, too?"

Now, Sirius grinned. "You bet," he said cheerfully. He walked into the living room and sank onto the couch next to his husband. Wrapping an arm around Remus's shoulders, he glanced down at the letter in the werewolf's hands. "So, what does our dear son say?" he asked curiously.

"Wait a minute, I'm just reading," Remus said. "He just says that Severus had been visiting Hogwarts -- oh, Merlin." Remus looked down at the letter, stunned. "Guess what? Severus is pregnant, _again_."

"Merlin," breathed Sirius. "You would think those two have never heard of contraception. I mean, they have ten kids already; you would think they have had enough of babies."

Remus, however, gave him a serious gaze. "Sirius, I happen to know that they have done everything they can," he said. "After Janus, they have tried all the best charms and potions available to keep Severus from becoming pregnant again. It's not that their children weren't wanted, just not wished for. Pregnancy is so hard on Severus; they are trying to prevent it, but always fail. And he wouldn't abort to save his life."

Sirius gave him a disbelieving gaze. "Just how fertile is that man?" he asked.

"After Remus and Sirius, he took a potion that should have made him absolutely sterile, unable to father or carry," Remus said. "After that, he has fathered Severah and carried Juliah. _That_'s how fertile he is."

"How is that possible?" asked Sirius disbelievingly. "I mean, when you become sterile, you stay sterile. We should know that, if anybody." At this, he raised a hand onto his stomach.

Sirius's efforts in the Ministry had done much good. True, some new regulations were still pulled through regularly, but those weren't half as bad as the old ones. Nowadays, werewolves and their human mates were equals in marriage and divorce. They were also allowed to have children -- no young werewolf would ever again have to go through the humiliation Remus had been forced to experience on his sixteenth birthday. However, like Sirius had noticed to his great sadness, unlike most charms, the sterilization charm couldn't be undone. They could never have biological children, which was why they let Keith think they simply weren't allowed to reproduce. It was easier to explain that way.

However, Remus just smiled a bit and covered Sirius's hand on the Animagus's stomach with his own. "Exactly," he said. Then he added, "And on that note... How are you feeling right now?"

Sirius smiled in response. "Well, I'm doing greatly," he said cheerfully. "Except for the morning sickness, I am feeling just wonderful. I think the baby's enjoying its life just as much." He rubbed affectionately his almost perfectly flat belly. "Grow big and strong, little one," he murmured downwards.

"You heard your Daddy, brat," Remus, too, said gently, directing his words to Sirius's stomach as well. "Do as he says, and you'll never have a worry in your life." He then glanced up at Sirius and smiled again. "Now, we only have to hope that he or she is an obedient child," said the werewolf. "Right?"

"Yeah, let's hope so," Sirius replied. Oh, yes. Sirius was indeed pregnant again. And, as impossible as it should have been, the baby was Remus's. A child of his and Remus's was growing inside him, not maybe biologically theirs, but magically, yes. A bit of both of their genes had been taken with a charm and made into the small fetus that was now in his "womb". They hadn't told anyone yet, however -- the charm was still on the testing stage, and it was probable they would lose the baby. Still, they were determined to keep trying until they managed to get another child of their own.

Of course, Remus immediately switched onto his mediwizard mode. "How was your morning sickness today? It wasn't worse than usually, was it?" The werewolf raised a hand to feel his forehead. "You do look a bit tired. Maybe you should lie down for a bit and have some rest."

Sirius, however, brushed his hand off. "I'm fine, really, Remus," he said. "If I needed sleep, rest assured that I would make sure I got it. Right now, however, all I need is being with you."

Remus grinned sheepishly." Sorry," he said. "I guess I'm just too used to dealing with risk pregnancies. However, I might remind that yours is just that." He gave his husband a stern glance.

"I know that," Sirius said. "And I'm not taking any chances here. I'd really like to keep this baby."

"We have a goal in common, then." Now Remus turned towards Sirius and wrapped his arms around the Animagus's waist. "This baby is going to grow up and be just as wonderful a kid as Keith has been."

"That it will." Sirius smiled at his lover, then leant in to place a kiss onto Remus's lips. "I love you."

"And I love you, too."

* * *

"Father?" asked a voice behind Lucius. "Father, could I maybe ask you something?" 

Turning around, Lucius saw his second eldest daughter in front of himself. "Of course, Hannah," he replied. "What is it you wanted to ask?" He wondered the girl's serious expression. Was something wrong?

Now, Hannah glanced around. Then she asked hurriedly, "Is Dad having a baby again?"

Lucius blinked. Then he said, "No, he isn't. He is having _three_ babies."

Now, the girl's grey eyes lit up. "I knew it!" she exclaimed. Then, to her father's great surprise, she turned around and shouted, "Did you hear? Daddy's having three babies!"

In an instant, several heads came to sight from behind the corner. Janus, Draconah, Lucius Junior, Marius, Remus, and Sirius soon surrounded their father, firing questions at him. Lucius answered them as well as he could. However, then Marius said, "Then Juliah will be a big sister, too!"

In an instant, the elder siblings corrected him. "Juliah had a little twin sister," Janus told with the knowledge of all his seven years of age. "But her sister was so small she died in Dad's stomach. Right, Father?"

Lucius swallowed. Forcing his voice to stay calm, he said, "Right. You all have a little sister who's an angel in the Heaven now." As he then watched his children hurrying back to their games, cheerful as ever, he swallowed again. The children couldn't mourn a sister they had never known, so they just happily accepted the fact that she had died and was now an angel. To their parents, it hadn't been that easy.

Two months to his pregnancy with Juliah, Severus had suddenly got some painful stomach cramps. As Lucius had immediately gone to call Remus over, they had discovered that Severus had had a miscarriage. Lucius had been half shocked, half relieved, although this second feeling he had well hidden from his heartbroken husband. Just as messed up had his feelings been when Severus had later joyfully announced that he was pregnant -- not again, but _still_. He had been carrying twins again, and had only lost one. **1)**

That had been a horrible experience -- their baby had died. In the end Lucius had been thankful about the fact that Juliah had still been there. Although the pregnancy had been by no means easy to Severus, he had realized that his husband couldn't have got over the miscarriage without having another baby to care for.

Now, Lucius walked towards the master sitting room. On the doorway he stopped, a faint smile touching his lips as he looked over to the couch. Severus was lying there, napping happily, Juliah curled up against his side, equally asleep. The sight was so cute the blond felt his heart clenching in his chest.

Lucius's hand crept slowly towards his wand, but pulled his hand away immediately. No, that would not do. He had heard other people suspecting that some of his children weren't his at all, but he trusted Severus. Who could tell that there hadn't been some redhead a long time ago in the Snape family, and that the gene had just been hidden for Merlin knew how long until it now showed up? Or perhaps it came from Severus's mother's family. It just was that blond hair was a recessive trait, and the genes their children got from Severus defined their hair colour. Yeah, that was the only thing there was to that.

This time, however, there was some doubt hidden deep inside his mind. For a reason, too. After having seen how hard Severus's pregnancy with Juliah had been, Lucius had, unknown by his husband, casted a certain charm on himself. To be exact, a sterilization charm -- the same the Ministry had used on werewolves before Sirius's team had got that regulation cancelled. Could the triplets really be his?

Well, they were. He knew that adultery would be just as impossible to Severus as an abortion, and should have been disgusted with himself for having even thought about that possibility. There was no way his husband could have cheated on him; he just was fertile like the worst Weasley...

Wait a minute... Weasley. Weasleys had always a lot of children, and they had red hair. But there most certainly was now Weasley blood in his own family, that he knew for sure.

Therefore, he would have to take a look at the Snape family tree.

Now with a new set determination, Lucius headed towards his private library.

* * *

A/N: **1)** Yes, that can happen, in case you didn't know yet. It has happened to my mother. And yes, I have heard my about 5-year-old brother asking, "Dad, isn't it true that Reeta (that's my third youngest sister) had a twin, but she then died in Mommy's stomach?" As you can see, I'm not writing the kids doing or saying anything they couldn't really say or do... 

Next chapter:

(Probably) The Malfoys and the Lupins meet.


	6. Chapter 6

Disclaimer: I own very little.

A/N: After this chapter there will only be a couple of chapters, three at most. Also, I don't think there'll be another installment to the Happy Holidays -series. As much as I'd like to write about the Malfoy and Lupin children's school years and such, I've got to stop somewhere. Originally, this universe was meant to be just a shortish one-shot -- I think you've got more than that, haven't you? I've got to give up some of my projects if I ever want my number of WIPs to get smaller... And this series is one of those projects. This fic will be finished, don't worry; I've never left a fic unfinished forever. However, THERE WILL BE NO SEQUEL.

* * *

Happy Christmas, Family Malfoy 

Chapter 6

* * *

Lucius sighed as he closed yet another thick book full of Wizarding family biographies. He had gone through the family lines of Severus's parents back to the medieval times, not finding any connections to the Weasley family. Rather than the extremely fertile army of redheads he was familiar with, the Snape line was filled with midnight black hair and single children. Severus just didn't fit the picture. Sure, he had dark hair all right, and no siblings, either, but the so far ten children were certainly atypical in his family. 

The Lord of Malfoy rose from the reading table, his intention to return the book to the shelf. However, he was stopped dead on his track as he heard a familiar and most definitely unwelcomed voice.

"Well, well," Tobias Snape said from his portrait. "So you finally decided to try to find out the reason behind your dear husband's never ending fertility? Your research will do no good, no matter what you try. The only way to stop him from popping out new children is killing him -- aside from celibacy, that is."

"What the Hell are you talking about?" Lucius snapped. Usually he wouldn't have used such language, but at the moment he was at his nerves' end. He was worried for his husband and frustrated at the mystery he was unable to solve, and he had never liked Tobias Snape.

In fact, he automatically became irritated whenever he saw the face of his father-in-law. This bastard had not only abused Severus for years, he had also stolen Mariah from them. Unfortunately, thought, he could not get rid of the man altogether. His father had decorated the library with pictures of his friends and relatives and applied some kind of sticking charm to the portraits. Taking them down would have taken days if not weeks of hard work, and Lucius most certainly had better things to do.

"Oh, nothing important," the darkhaired man replied nastily. "I'd just give you some good advice if it wasn't too late already. Ten children -- are you mad? You should have killed him in childbirth like I did to his mother; you should know several poisons that would make it look natural. That way, you'd have many children less -- three, if you really wanted an heir. I was lucky enough to manage with only one."

"What the fuck are you talking about?" snarled Lucius in rage. In the inside he was also confused. As far as he knew, Mrs. Snape was still alive. "Why'd I ever want to kill my husband?"

"I said it already," his father-in-law replied. "To stop him from breeding any more, of course. Death is the only way to stop them, you know -- fertile like some bunnies, the Weasleys." At seeing Lucius's puzzled expression, he laughed nastily. "You didn't know, did you? Well, I did do my best to hide the truth. Severus's mother was not my wife; instead, it was Emmanuelle Weasley."

"Why?" asked Lucius, torn between shock and confusion. "Why would you _spoil_ your bloodline like that?"

"I hardly had any choice," Tobias replied. "There is a curse in the Snape blood that was gradually making us infertile. By the time I was the last Snape it had got to being practically sterile. The only one who could bear my child was a Weasley -- while our blood carries infertility, their children bring fertility. Unfortunately, like you've already noticed, both traits were passed on to Severus."

"So that is why he is so unfitted for pregnancy," Lucius concluded. "It's in the Snape blood."

"Exactly." The man in the portrait smirked. "You know, if he had ever complied with your wishes for an abortion, he wouldn't have had any more children. Like I said, the Weasley fertility is in the children instead of the blood. That's why women married to a Weasley are just as fertile if they later marry another man, but a male Weasley does not have to face the bunny effect with anybody but the mother of their first child. The curse, blessing, whatever you wish to call it, is transferred from the man to the woman in that first child; it is not directly bound to the Weasley bloodline even though it usually passes down through it."

"Why exactly are you telling me this?" Lucius asked. "After all these years of hiding, why tell it now?"

"As I said, to give you advice," the other man replied. "You wish for your husband to carry no more children, don't you? The solution is simple. Kill the child he's carrying now, and there will be no more."

Suddenly Lucius felt very cold. His father-in-law's words struck at something inside him. His deepest wish was to save his husband from having to experience the fear and pain of pregnancy and childbirth ever again. He most certainly knew poisons that would kill the fetuses without harming Severus or being detected, making it look like a natural miscarriage. It would be easy -- but was it really what he wanted?

_Of course_, the Slytherin part inside him whispered. _You want to save your husband, don't you? The twins were already so hard on him. The triplets might mean his death, and the babies would most probably die, too. Isn't it better to only lose the children and not your husband as well?_

"It looks like you're having a hard time making a decision," Tobias Snape then commented nastily. "Well, I'll tell you something: Although the midwife helping Emmanuelle obviously didn't know it, nobody with the Weasley blessing has ever died in childbirth." Just as Lucius's spirits started to rise a bit, the portrait continued, "However... there are reported cases of deaths due to complications during the pregnancy. _Especially_ when the Weasley blood has been affected by other fertility or infertility curses. And many Weasleys have become invalids for life due to their injuries. But, well, it's your choice, isn't it?"

Then he vacated his frame, leaving the blond man alone with his tormented thoughts.

* * *

"Lucius? Hey, Lucius?" A hint of irritation was starting to creep into Severus's voice now. "Are you even listening to me?" He glared at his blond husband, waiting for a response. 

"What? Oh, I'm honestly sorry, Severus." Lucius smiled apologetically. "What is it you were saying?"

"I was just reminding you," Severus said slowly, "that Remus and Sirius are coming over for dinner tonight. Or have you already forgotten about that?" He raised a questioning eyebrow at his husband.

"No, I haven't forgotten," Lucius replied quietly. "I was just in my thoughts, that's all. Oh, and by the way..." He reached over the table and clasped one of Severus's hands in his own. This was a rare occasion of some one-to-one time to them. With the elder kids at school and the younger ones napping, the two parents were left all by themselves. Now, there would be no distractions. Good.

"What is it, Lucius?" asked Severus, rather curious. He looked questioningly up at his husband.

"What... what would you feel like if..." Lucius swallowed, then forced himself to finish, "What would you feel like if you lost the triplets for some reason? I mean, before they were born?"

Now, the darkhaired man was startled. "Why on Earth do you ask that, Lucius?" he asked, shocked. "Nothing bad's going to happen to the babies; Remus will make sure about it!"

Now, the blond sighed and closed his eyes. "I asked a 'what if' question," he said quietly. "There's no way that could happen in reality -- I wouldn't allow that. But if it happened... how would you feel?"

"I'd most probably be devastated," replied Severus softly. "I mean, I know what pregnancy means -- especially to someone like me. And I know that I might very well die because of the triplets. But still, the thought of my children dying... even, or perhaps especially before I've even got to hold them... it is more awful than the thought of dying in childbirth. That would be sort of a... natural way to go, I guess."

"Don't talk like that," whispered Lucius, almost choking at the words. "Severus, I love you... I won't let you die." In his mind he prayed that he'd really had a choice. But in the end he didn't, not really. He couldn't save his beloved husband... unless he killed their unborn children...

"Well, then let the gloomy subjects drop," ordered the shorter man. Raising an eyebrow, he then asked, "What has got into you? Usually you would rather die than discuss the dangers of my pregnancy."

"Like I said, I've been thinking," Lucius replied quietly. "That's all there is to it."

And then, even though Severus still questioned his strange behaviour, he didn't say anything else.

* * *

"What are you doing?" asked Remus amusedly, leaning against the doorframe. He had just walked into the bedroom to find his husband standing in front of a mirror, looking at his reflection intently. 

"I'm fat, aren't I?" whined Sirius, turning towards him with a pitiful look on his face. "This baby is making me fat!" He gave his husband the most adorable pout, accompanied by the infamous puppy eyes.

"No way," laughed the werewolf. "I could never think of you as fat, love. You're hardly even showing. And even when you were pregnant with Keith, you were never fat. And now, do hurry along. We're going to be late from the Malfoys," he added cheerfully. "You don't want that, do you?"

"Okay, okay. Just give me a damn minute!" yelled Sirius, hurriedly running to his wardrobe. Remus couldn't help but grin. Despite being pregnant for the second time at the moment, Sirius was in many aspects quite a stereotypical man -- like how he wore practically the first thing his hands met in the closet.

Then again, that was just one of the things he loved in his husband. And did he ever love him much.

* * *

Lucius sighed inwardly. Remus and Sirius had just, happily and full of excitement, told of the baby on the way. Nobody else was allowed to know, not even Keith -- most probably they would have to try several times before they'd manage to get it through, and they didn't want to disappoint their son. However, even though the secret would never leave his lips, it encaged him like a well-placed trapping spell. 

His last hope was now gone. There was no way he could discuss with Severus what Tobias Snape had told him. Remus would be just as impossible; he valued each and every life -- the very reason he'd become a mediwizard in the first place. Even though he had suggested abortion to Severus before, it had only been when the darkhaired man had been in danger of death. Under other circumstances Remus would not agree with killing the fetuses, and never without Severus's permission -- which they would never get. And as for Sirius, well... he _had_ been Lucius's last hope of somebody to talk things over with, but now that he was pregnant, he was also out. How could he tell this man, so excited about having a tiny life growing within him, of his own half decided-on plans to destroy the children Severus was carrying? No way.

"What's it with you, Lucius?" asked Remus, frowning. "You are obviously distracted. You even smell strange, you know." He tapped his nose with his finger. "You smell scared... and worried, too. But there is also something else in this scent... Something I can't quite identify."

"If you find out what's wrong with him, would you be so kind as to inform me?" asked Severus dryly. "I've kept asking him to tell me what's wrong for the whole day, and he won't even listen."

"It -- it's okay," Lucius said, then abruptly rose to his feet. "I think I need a bit of fresh air," he said, then headed for the balcony. He could practically feel the three gazes on the back of his head, but he ignored them. Fresh air was indeed what he wanted now, fresh air and some solitude.

* * *

Next chapter: 

A couple of Lucius's relatives visit unannounced, causing some serious trouble.


	7. Chapter 7

Disclaimer: I own something.

A/N: There will be either one or two chapters after this. Most probably two, one of which is a proper chapter, and the latter of which is an epilogue. And after that, the Happy Holiday series will come to their end.

...Well, at least that's what I think. Knowing me, though, that's far from certain.

Does anybody still remember Lucius mentioning a sister nine years younger than him? That was in Happy Very First Schoolday, Keith Lupin. Well, regardless of whether or not you do remember, she's going to show up about... now.

* * *

Happy Christmas, Family Malfoy 

Chapter 7

* * *

"So this is what has become of the Malfoy Manor?" asked a dry voice, looking at the garden. Once finely cared for, elegant and stylish, it was still a joy to any eye viewing it. However, the once pure green grass was now scattered with colourful balls, forgotten dolls, toy broomsticks, and wooden sticks representing wands. It was clear that this house was inhabited by children -- lots and lots of children. 

"Yeah," sighed another voice, this one female. "Shame, isn't it? Once so great and prideful, it has now been lowered to the stage of a brat farm. I just can't understand Lucius's attitude with all this." The speaker, a tall, slender blonde, shook her head, long hair falling down her back.

Her male companion laughed shortly. The cruel tone could not be mistaken. "Well, what else could you have expected from someone who first became a father in the age of seventeen?" he then asked nastily, brushing back his own chestnut-brown hair. "They should have just given the kid to Snape's parents. If those people were desperate enough to call their bastard grandchild their own, why not make some use of it? Sure, let them marry each other if they want, freedom to everyone and all that crap, but why drag the family name down to mud with an illegitimate heir? Why couldn't they just skip the responsibility?"

"It's probably just for the better they didn't," she snorted in response. "Knowing Lucius's dear husband's fertility they probably would have soon got another kid, married or not. Better let it all out than try to make everyone believe that Mrs. Snape would actually have yet another child. At least now the rest are really legitimate and not just claimed by Lucius after getting married."

Now, their third companion, another female with blonde hair and piercing blue eyes, chuckled. "It sounds to me that you're just bitter about him still inheriting the Malfoy fortune," she said with a nasty tone. "You wouldn't have minded getting it for yourself, would you, Caroline?"

"Shut up, Narcissa," snarled the other blonde. "I think that _you_ are bitter about the fact that Lucius is married to his beloved Severus and not _you_. Everybody knows you were after him back then. You'd probably be delighted if they had never gotten those dangerous ideas from the Lupins. If they hadn't gotten married, you might be Mrs. Malfoy -- and in possession of that fortune along with Lucius."

"Now, my fine ladies, do not fight," the brunet man cut in. "It hardly is our goal to make a scene on your brother's yard, Caroline, now is it? No, we're here for a much more important reason." Raising his wand, he finished, "That reason being, convincing the said brother that divorce would be the best choice."

"Indeed," Caroline snapped. "I can't believe that Lucius could be so blind as to think that all those kids are his. There's never been a redhead in the Snape family, and the gene most definitely doesn't come from our side! We must show him the truth about his husband and his supposed fidelity!"

"And, if in any way possible, make him disown all those kids and leave you with a bigger possibility to actually inherit some of the Malfoy money one day," added Narcissa smoothly. "Not that you'd ever have even thought about that until I now mentioned it, no. Your motive is merely to ensure that your dear brother gets all the love and loyalty he deserves from his husband so that they can live happily ever after." She then snorted and added sarcastically, "Yeah, sure. As if anybody could ever believe that."

"Well, then. Shall we get to work?" asked the man. Not hesitating any further, he walked to the front doors of the Manor. Pushing them, he found them unlocked -- of course. There were probably kids running in and out all the time. With a snort, he walked inside, the two women right behind him.

"Shouldn't we try to find your brother first?" asked Narcissa from Caroline. "We can't exactly go around like this. He'll probably sue us for breaking and entering; that'd be just his style."

"We never broke anything; the door was open," the other woman replied. "And besides, he will _thank_ us when he sees the result of our work. Now, however, he would most probably refuse -- he so naively thinks that his husband is actually faithful to him. Well, we're about to prove him wrong. And don't worry about him suddenly turning up -- I made sure that he is away at the moment."

"Where are the brats, then?" asked her male companion. "They hardly are at school, it being over five o'clock. But surely there is somebody looking after them, right? His husband, most likely."

"Oh, no," Caroline said. "They're looked after by house-elves. The said husband is away as well; we don't want him to come barging in right in the middle of our inspection, now do we, Sebastian? No, we only have to find the brats and start casting paternity charms on them."

This proved to be a lot easier task than it could have been, had they been unlucky enough. Usually the Malfoy kids were mostly running around the Manor. Sure, they could have been targeted by sound if that had been the case, but catching them might have proven much more difficult. So, they could consider themselves lucky as they stepped into one room to find a heap of kids sleeping in the middle of it.

"Oh, for the love of Merlin," Narcissa snorted. "There sure are a lot of redheads here. How could Lucius ever think they're his?" She nudged one of the sleeping red-haired children with her foot. The girl slept on peacefully, not disturbed by this intrusion of her peace.

"There sure are a lot of _children_ here," Sebastian commented. "An absolute disgrace, don't you think?"

"Indeed." Caroline grimaced, then drew her wand with a tiny smirk. "Well, then. Let's get to work, eh?"

"Oh, yes." Narcissa pointed her wand at one of the darkhaired children, then said, "_Paterna Lucius Malfoy_!" In an instant the girl started to pulse with a bright, white light. Raising her eyebrow, she commented, "Well, well. It looks like this one actually _is_ Lucius's."

"Well, some of them have to be," Caroline said calmly. "If there wasn't any possibility for them actually being his, not even Lucius with his naive thoughts of love and loyalty could make the mistake of thinking them as his own. He does know about birds and bees, after all. Forget the darkhaired ones, it's just a waste of time. Let's concentrate on the redheads instead; they're sure targets."

"Indeed," Sebastian said dryly, aiming his wand at the closest child -- a redheaded little boy. "_Paterna Lucius Malfoy_," he hissed. The boy started to emit a dim, purplish light. A grim smile spread to his lips. "Now we are getting somewhere here," he said nastily. "Wait until your brother sees this, Caroline! Imagine this -- his son isn't his at all! He will most probably freak out at this."

"Oh, he most certainly will," Caroline said back. "Maybe we'll even get to see him kicking that whore out of his house along with those cuckolded children. But for that, we'll have to test more of them."

And so, they all raised their wands again. In unison, they said, "_Paterna Lucius Malfoy_."

* * *

"I just can't help the feeling that something isn't right," Severus muttered. "I'm sorry, Lucius, but I simply have to check. Something is out of order with the children, I know it." 

"Believe me, nothing is out of ordinary," the blond soothed him. "Sure, we can go back and check, if you want to, but there is really no need. The house-elves won't let them do anything bad. And besides, the kids were all sleeping when we left, weren't they? It shouldn't take us that long; I doubt that either one of our kids or one of the Weasleys will wake up before we get back. There is really no need to worry."

"But I still want to check," the darkhaired man argued. "Something just must be wrong."

"Very well," sighed his husband. "We will check on them, if you absolutely insist."

So, they travelled back to their house. Severus first went to check on their youngest children, finding both Severah and Juliah sound asleep. In the corridor he met Lucius, who informed him that Remus and Sirius were still sleeping as well. That was good; it had certainly taken enough time to make them take a nap.

Still, Severus was not satisfied. Lucius trailing behind him, he headed for a very particular room. Finally he reached it, pausing a bit behind the door to calm his nerves. Surely nothing was wrong. Lucius was right; he was just nervous because of the triplets and was imagining things. Everything was just all right.

Suddenly, he heard a voice coming from the room where he'd last left his sleeping children along with their equally exhausted guests. And the words the voice said made him freeze. "_Paterna Lucius Malfoy_."

For a moment Severus just stood there, unable to speak or move. Then, however, he yanked the door open, rushing into the room. What he saw made his heart skip several beats.

His children were still lying around the room, safe and secure. However, almost all of them were now enveloped in light, along with the Weasley children. The only difference between the conditions of his children and the guests was the colour of the light; all Malfoys were covered with a bright light and all Weasleys with purple. In the middle of all this stood three adults, all looking at him with looks of distaste on their faces. The man he didn't know, but he recognized the two blonde women as Caroline, Lucius's sister, and Narcissa Black. There was only one way in which he could take the scene.

Lucius didn't trust him. Lucius thought he had cheated on him and had asked his sister and her friends to make sure while they were away. So this was why he'd been so reluctant to turn back.

"It's all right to look shocked, you whore," snapped Caroline with a nasty smirk. "We have revealed your schemes. Did you really think that Lucius would never know what you're doing behind his back?"

"No," whispered Severus, not as an answer to her question but as a reaction to the whole situation. This only proved that all their children were indeed Lucius's, as they all had bright light around them; what else could it be, considering that he had never even considered sleeping with anybody else but his beloved husband? However, it also proved that Lucius had suspected him of such a thing. And this realization was about as painful to him as if he'd been struck in the chest with a sharp knife.

No, not in the chest. Rather in the stomach as he now doubled over as a sharp pain shot through him. From the corridor he heard Lucius's voice, "Severus, love? What's wrong?" Then, the blond came to stand beside him -- and froze, staring at the scene spread out in front of him.

Still pained but desperate to know, Severus turned towards his husband. "Lucius?" he whispered, almost choking on the name. "Lucius, don't you... don't you trust me?"

At first Lucius just turned to stare at him. Then he turned back towards the people in the middle of the room -- the people who should have had no business here. "What the Hell do you think you're doing?"

"We? We're just proving that your husband has been unfaithful," Narcissa Black commented coolly. "Look at these children. You didn't really think they were all yours, did you?"

"All those with the name of Malfoy are," Lucius replied forcedly. "You mean those with a purple light around them, right? Well, I am _so_ sorry to disappoint you, but those are all Weasleys. They had just come over to play with our children. And I most certainly have never wanted you to perform such tests. I do trust Severus, and nothing you can do could ever change that, you little bitch!"

"Really, Lucius, calm down," Caroline sighed. "We just wanted to help. Okay, so maybe these kids are all yours -- or maybe they have been charmed to react to this spell in such a way, who knows? There certainly are ways, ways that a Potions Master would know. Just when has there ever been a redhead in either of your families? Face the truth, big brother. You've been cheated on."

"That is not true!" shouted Lucius. "I'll tell you a secret, shall I? Severus's mother was a Weasley. Not Mrs. Snape, as you assume, but a woman with the name of Emmanuelle Weasley. That causes the red hair on our children! Now, you little bitch --" However, his rant was interrupted as he heard a whimper from his side. Looking down, he saw Severus, now curled up on the floor, arms wrapped around his stomach.

"Lucius," whispered the darkhaired man, giving him a pained glance. "Lucius, it hurts... The -- the babies..." Tears rolled down the pale cheeks as the younger man clutched his stomach.

"Well, what a talent," commented Caroline. "He's almost believable, indeed."

"Caroline," Lucius growled deep under his breath, "get. The. Hell. Out. Of. Here. NOW. If you are still here five seconds from now, I will not hesitate to tear your flesh off your bones with my own bare hands."

The blonde woman glanced at her older brother, seeing the fierce glow in his eyes. Deciding not to push her luck, she turned around and indeed fled. When Lucius had _that_ look, he could do anything. _Anything._

Thankfully, her friends were intelligent enough to follow her.

* * *

** Next chapter:**

Severus's condition gets bad -- very bad. Remus is called over, and Lucius tells him the truth about his husband's parents. Later, the blond awaits news about his husband, not knowing what to do.


	8. Chapter 8

Disclaimer: I own something.

A/N: I do not wish to offend anybody or their religion by my portrayal of Lucius' "religional" act in this chapter. Being Lutheran myself, I have never used "Ave Maria" as a prayer, and most probably I never will. However, I do think that somebody who had no knowledge of religion or prayers beyond the words of a single Catholic prayer might use it like Lucius does. To him, it is not a literal prayer, the actual words working as the address and contents of the prayer, but rather as a vessel to get his own wishes and pleas across to whatever is listening up there. You have to remember that, being Pureblood, Lucius is completely unfamiliar to the simple act of praying, and is trying to do something that is not a part of his own culture, accommodating it to his own views. If this offends anybody who regards "Ave Maria" as a true prayer, I apologize, but it was not my intention.

...Of course, anybody who thinks so has most probably already turned around when it was used as a lullaby. Yes, I have created my own tune for it, and yes, I have sung my younger siblings to sleep with it. By doing this and making my characters do this I do not wish to cheapen it in the eyes of anybody to whom it is in any way holy; I only appreciate it as a beautiful set of lyrics.

* * *

Happy Christmas, Family Malfoy 

Chapter 8

* * *

"So Severus is a Weasley from his mother's side," Remus concluded. "Oh, well. I have heard speculations about the fertility charm, curse, whatever in the Weasley line -- there is one, that much is clear. I'd assume that what you were told was quite accurate. However, I do know for a fact that the Weasley trait also protects both the baby and the carrier -- but only when there are no other curses involved." Sighing, the werewolf ran a hand through his hair. "In Severus' case, there's also the Snape curse. Therefore, I sadly can't say anything certain about him." With a quiet voice, he added, "I'm sorry, Lucius." 

'_I'm sorry, Lucius_.' Those words had been going around in his mind for the last hour and a half -- the exact time Remus had now spent treating his husband. The shock of seeing Caroline's actions had almost caused Severus to miscarry; he'd been under great stress even otherwise, and this had been just too much on him. What Remus now had to do was to prevent that "almost" from disappearing from the sentence.

Or, rather, like he had worriedly informed Lucius about an hour earlier, to prevent the loss of his unborn triplets from turning into the loss of both the triplets and his husband.

The blond sighed, running a hand through his long tresses. It was just so unfair. Why was Severus always so vulnerable during his pregnancies? Why did he have to worry about possibly losing his spouse whenever his husband was startled? In Wizarding pregnancies, any complications were rare. Lucius, however, knew very well that the only things making a difference between him and a widower were some unknown deity's grace and Remus' expertice, so many times he had come close to losing Severus.

Molly had by now collected her children and Sirius had taken the Malfoy offsprings to look after, knowing that Lucius didn't need the stress of taking care of them at the moment. Some may handle worry by throwing themselves in chores and routines, but Lucius most certainly wasn't one of those people. He had to brood and think; having something else to do usually made him feel just worse because he constantly felt the need to concentrate on his worry and pain, growing anxious if he was unable to do so. Sirius knew this from the experience of years of friendship and too many similar situations, and acted accordingly.

Therefore, Lord Malfoy was now alone, free to concentrate on the constant ache in his heart.

He had many times been close to losing Severus due to complications during pregnancy, yes. This time, however, he couldn't help but feel that the situation worse than ever -- if that was even possible. The worst times had always been when Severus had been with twins; with triplets, it could only be even worse. Every moment that passed by without the all too familiar sight of a tired but relieved Remus coming to inform him about Severus' condition turning steady made his fears grow even more vicious.

Closing his eyes, Lucius bit his lip. He could not imagine his life without Severus by his side. Taking care of all their children was one thing, that he could do, even though it would be difficult. However, the mere task of living on without his husband's presence seemed like an inhuman effort he was simply incapable of. Severus just couldn't die; if he did, Lucius wouldn't know what to do.

He did try to imagine a lonely life, though -- well, as lonely as life could be with ten children of his own running around all the time. Waking up in a bed where the only other presence was the occasional child curled up to him. Sitting in a breakfast table with nobody opposite to him. Falling asleep in a complete silence only broken by the sound of his own breathing. Sending their children to Hogwarts, one by one, until one day he would be alone left standing on the platform when the train left for the school...

A strangled sob escaped his lips. That simply could not be. He could not live without Severus. Couldn't, and wouldn't. He wouldn't allow Severus to die. Remus had to make Severus all right... Remus, or whatever other creature was playing cruel games with his life.

Lucius had never been a very religious person. Wizards seldom were; most of them merely acknowledged the existence of some higher being, not paying it another thought. Living in a world of wonder and magic, they all had to admit that something greater than just humans did exist, but what that something was remained unclear. Most referred to it by the names of great wizards long gone, relying on Merlin's grace and swearing by his name. To say that they regarded Merlin or anybody else as a deity was, however, definitely untrue; every wizard knew that even Merlin had got his own powers from someone or something above him. However, that higher power had no name, no priests, no rituals or words to pray with. Therefore, they preferred to stick to the old ways, using the only names of power they knew of.

Now Lucius cursed the old Wizarding ways, frustrated to know that he had nobody who to plead for his husband's life. When he'd been younger, he had greatly wondered why most Muggles deemed it necessary or at least helpful to pray; now he understood that view very well. The feeling of helplessness that now engulfed him, the knowledge that he could not do a single thing to help the one he loved more than anything, was unbearable. If he'd had somebody to direct his prayers for he would have at least had the feeling that he'd done _something_ to aid Severus... and, if anything went wrong, somebody to blame in addition to himself. With no name and no words, he could only hope for the best.

Finally he could not bear the uncertainty any longer. The Muggle view of religion perhaps did not appeal to him, but at least Muggles had the words to pray with. Therefore, he started to mouth the words that to his children were a mere familiar lullaby, never a prayer or a true plea for something.

"_Ave Maria, gratia plena,_" he whispered brokenly, trying his best to concentrate on the words instead of the pain in his chest. A Muggle saint was no more holy to him than a Muggle god, but to him the contents of the prayer were now irrelevant, the action of praying being the only important thing.

"..._Domine tecum..._" whispered the thin lips, while his mind pleaded, '_Let Severus live. Please. I don't care about anything else, if you just let him live._' His words and thoughts alike were directed at something above, somebody, anybody, who would listen to them.

"..._Benedicta tu in mulieribus_..." The tightly closed eyes were now opened as the blond casted a desperate glance towards the ceiling. Somebody had better _be_ there, listening to him.

"..._Benedictus fructus ventris tui, Jesus..._" Now, another tear rolled down the pale cheek. Being from an ancient and very traditional Pureblood family, Lucius was well educated in Latin even beyond the incantations familiar to every wizard. He knew exactly what the words of the prayer meant, and suddenly they became painful reminders. Trying to forget the form of the prayer, he tried to concentrate on what he meant by it. '_Let Severus live. Just let him live to see another day, and another, and another._'

"..._Santa Maria, Mater Dei..._" The words rolled from his mouth as easily as they did every night when he put his children to sleep, singing to the youngest ones until they gave up their struggle. Now, however, they did not echo through the corridors along with a soothing melody; they were whispered to no other living being's ears, full of desperation and hope that somebody or something actually listened.

"..._Ora pro nobis peccatoribus..._" '_Let _somebody_ pray for me, for I do not know how to_,' Lucius sighed inwardly. '_Let somebody pray for Severus, somebody with words and faith_.'

"..._Nunc et in hora mortis nostrae_." He had to force himself to get the last words out, a tear after another flowing from his eyes. The moment of their death, indeed. '_Let that not come to Severus now_,' he thought desperately, telling himself to just _forget_ the actual words and instead remember what he was trying to say with them. '_Not now, not today, not tomorrow, not ever. I couldn't bear it if he died. ...Please._'

Pleading was very unusual to the proud man. Now that he thought about it, however, he knew that he had pleaded before, many times. Whenever he had been left unaware of his dear husband's fate, he had pleaded and even prayed, perhaps not by words but always in his heart. This was just the first time he had truly acknowledged those pleas, the first time he actually thought of them as a prayer.

Biting his lip, Lucius leant back, resting his head against the back of the chair. Now there was absolutely nothing left for him to do... except pray again.

After some time, he did not know how long, the door he was watching anxiously was finally pushed open. As he saw Remus' familiar expression Lucius was filled with relief. Severus was going to be okay, he knew that even before the werewolf opened his mouth and told him so.

"Thank God," muttered Lucius, closing his eyes and letting out a sigh of relief. Somehow, giving his thanks to Merlin like usual seemed now inappropriate. After all, it most certainly hadn't been Merlin he had pleaded for in his desperation. It maybe had been Remus whose work had helped his husband, but it was not the werewolf's work alone; if it had been, there would have never been any doubt. Something else had lent its power in healing his husband, and considering that he had prayed to it, naming it as God seemed as good an option as anything else. Merlin it most certainly was not; the man was long dead and had no power in the affairs of the living. Merlin's magic made no difference between Severus' life or death.

Remus gave him a strange gaze. Then, however, he sighed. "Like I said, Severus' condition is steady right now," he said. "However, although I managed to get him through it, there's no guarantee that he will stay to be well. Already this pregnancy is stressing his body more than any of the previous ones."

"But what can we do?" asked Lucius desperately. "There must be _something _we can do!" '_Abortion_,' a traitorous voice in the back of his mind whispered. '_Kill the babies, and Severus will be safe._'

Very slowly, Remus nodded. "There is indeed something we can do to save both Severus and the babies," he said, and suddenly Lucius felt a new surge of hope. "Since if this pregnancy goes on, we will most certainly lose either the babies, him, or all of them. The thing we can do has seldom been tried before, and it's not without its own risks... but, given Severus' Weasley blessing, I do think it might work."

"Then what is it?" asked the blond, eager to hear the solution. "Whatever it is, if it can save Severus and the triplets, I accept it. Anything, anything at all."

"Wait at least until you hear what I have to say," the werewolf said, chuckling a bit at his eagerness despite the seriousness of the situation. "And besides, we have to talk with Sirius first..."

* * *

A/N: ...And no, this does not mean that Lucius is suddenly Catholic, or Christian for that matter. He only used the words of a Catholic prayer to get his own message across somewhere above as it is the only way of praying he knows of. 

Next (and also last) chapter:

Christmas time. We find out just what Remus was thinking of doing, as well as how Severus and everybody else is doing at the moment.


	9. Chapter 9

Disclaimer: I own very little.

A/N: This chapter will end both this fic and the whole Happy Holidays -series. I hope you have enjoyed what you have read!

...Geez. Seemingly you people know me too well, or I'm simply becoming unoriginal, seeing how many guessed just what I was planning to do with the babies...  
So, to those to whom it remains unclear: They used some spell to transfer the triplets from Severus's "womb" into Sirius's. And the Weasley blessing is in the children, remember? Therefore it was transferred to Sirius, too.

* * *

Happy Christmas, Family Malfoy 

Chapter 9

* * *

"Do you need anything, Sirius?" Remus asked concernedly from his husband. "Something to eat, perhaps? Or would you like another pillow?" The werewolf watched him with wide golden eyes. 

"A moment of peace and silence, if possible," muttered the Grim Animagus. "But as that's most certainly impossible, let it be. I'm perfectly fine at the moment; there's no need to fuss."

"But..." Remus started, sounding helpless, only to be silenced by a stern glance from his husband. So, he grinned weakly. "Sorry," he muttered. "Over the years I've come to think of pregnancy in the family as a potential danger to the carrier. It's hard to get rid of the old habits."

"Well, do try to," Sirius sighed. "I'm more tired because of your 'help' than I'd be without it. The Weasley blessing will keep both me and the babies perfectly healthy." At this, he placed a hand on his round stomach, stroking it gently. "We're perfectly fine, all five of us."

"Well, I'm glad to hear that," Remus said, truly sounding relieved. "Just make sure it stays that way, okay?"

"You bet," murmured Sirius, watching as his husband now returned to his previous pastime of helping Severus to chase down the younger Malfoy children. Merlin, the brats could truly run. Of course, Sirius had offered to help, but this had been firmly and worriedly refused. No no, they would be fine. The Pregnant One should now just sit in his armchair and rest for a bit.

Needless to say, this annoyed Sirius quite a bit. He wasn't that far along, dammit. Sure, he was now having quadruplets -- only one of which was truly his child -- but that didn't mean that he was an invalid. Just because every pregnancy was a death threat to Severus and any multiple pregnancy, well, multiply so, didn't mean that it was the same for him. He wasn't a Snape, after all.

His efforts at getting any other kind of treatment, however, were absolutely futile. So, he just resigned himself to his fate and sank back in the pillows in the luxurious armchair, watching as the older children played with their new toys. Meanwhile Lucius was having hard time trying to make sure that the youngest ones, who were napping, actually stayed asleep and weren't startled awake every other minute. Better forced leisure than that, surely -- Juliah and Severah were easy enough, but Sirius most certainly didn't envy the blond for having to keep little Remus and Sirius asleep. Those two were, well, little monsters, as embarrassing as it was to admit something like that about the namesakes of his husband and him.

At last, however, something vaguely resembling peace and silence fell to the badly suffered Malfoy Manor. The children from the not too forcefully protesting Keith and Mariah to the overeager Remus and Sirius were currently playing outside, Lucius having given up in hopes that the twins might actually sleep at night. As he didn't see anybody nearby to stop him, Sirius quickly got up and sneaked to the balcony.

"Got enough of being confined inside, I see," said a calm voice, startling him a bit. Turning to look at his side, Sirius saw Lucius standing at the other end of the long balcony.

"Exactly," he muttered. "And don't you even try to make me go back. I need some fresh air."

"Sure you do." A brief smirk touched the blond's lips. Then it turned into a small yet genuine smile, directed at Sirius. "Thank you," Lucius said quietly. "Thank you for doing this for us."

"Hey, anything for a friend, right?" the Gryffindor asked, grinning a bit. "And besides, we should thank you. Because of you we are offered the chance to have more children of our own safely and securely. And not as uncontrollably as with you, either; with Remus's sterility and the blessing having used most of its powers on Severus and your babies, normal contraception should work for us as it is supposed to do. You, however, will have no more children after these three -- unless you decide to go through the magical conception route, which is probably not a good idea with all your past experiences."

"Well, I do think we have enough children as it is," the blond chuckled. Then, however, his smile faded away. "I won't lie by telling that I haven't thought about that," he said quietly. "And even though we certainly have our own share of children, it is kind of sad to think that after these three we will never have another baby, another little beginning of life." Then he added on a lighter tone, "Well, most probably I'm more than fed up with little children by the time the triplets grow out of their diapers!"

"Lucius, old friend, you won't have to worry about things like that for long," Sirius said amusedly. "By the time these triplets enter Hogwarts, your private army has most probably taken over the whole Wizarding World! In fact, I'm beginning to think that's your ultimate plan. Just think about it -- fifteen people in all kind of respectable jobs like professors, politicians, lawyers, and assassins, manipulating people and supporting each other, all striving for the good of one family. That's the perfect Slytherin vision!"

"You obviously have been blind and deaf all these past years," Lucius said dryly. "It would take a life or death situation to make our children work together, and even then they'd argue. But of course I didn't see that in my plans," he continued. "I purposefully have kept my husband pregnant all the time just to create a personal army, uncaring about the dangers I've put him through by that."

Sirius was silent for a moment. Then he said quietly, "Sorry, Lucius. That was a bad joke."

"It's okay." The blond then gave him a scrutinizing glance. "You're not cold, are you?"

"Oh, no," moaned the darkhaired man. "Don't you start that, too! Remus is already fussing around me all the time like I was going to drop dead the moment he leaves me alone! That's why I came here, you know -- to escape him, _and_ you _all_. No, I'm not going to catch cold _or_ pneumonia, nor will I freeze to death."

"Well, I have even more right to fuss over you than Remus does," Lucius replied, raising an eyebrow. "You may be his husband, but three of the children you're carrying are mine, while only one is his. Therefore, I have three times the right to fuss over you as he does. It's pure logic."

"But he's my husband," Sirius whined. "And I was first pregnant with his child! Your triplets are just late additions to our baby!" He crossed his arms over his chest just above the slightly rounded stomach.

"All right, all right," Lucius chuckled. Then, however, he turned again just as serious as only he could be. "Even if the children were all yours and Remus's, I still would worry," he said then quietly. "You are my friend, Sirius, and you should know that. My own triplets just give me the perfect excuse."

A small smile crossed now the Gryffindor's lips. "Say it like it is," he teased lightly. "You've got so used to being worried over Severus that you can't be around a pregnant person without worrying."

"Well, there's that, too," Lucius admitted, taking his half-joke as a completely serious statement. What, Sirius supposed, it had been in the end. And then, neither of them said anything for a while.

* * *

A wistful smile curled Severus's lips as he ran a hand over his now perfectly flat stomach. "Three months," he said quietly. "If everything had gone well, I would now be three months along." 

"Confined in bed and in danger of death," added the werewolf by his side seriously. He had never been one to forget reality; his life had taught him to always remember both sides of things, good and bad alike.

"Most probably, yes," admitted the darkhaired man calmly. "But I might have survived, at least."

"All blessings and curses wear out by time," Remus said quietly. "And, when opposed with the strong Snape curse in your veins, your Weasley heritage was struggling to do what it was supposed to. I have no doubt that, had your pregnancy continued, we would have been unable to save you and the triplets all. At least some of you would have been lost, if not all. You wouldn't want to do that to Lucius and your kids, would you?" Casting a sideways glance at his friend, he continued softly, "Pregnancy has never been easy on you, Severus... And one more time would have been too much to you. Don't mourn it so."

"I do know that going on with the pregnancy might have cost my life," the Slytherin replied with an equally soft voice. "And you're right, I wouldn't want to do that to my family. But still... it feels so... strange. It is truly strange to think that I will never again have a child inside myself."

"Well, you have had your own fair share of that experience," reminded his friend with a small smile. "Let the others go through it now and concentrate on enjoying the kids you already have."

A snort escaped Severus's lips now. "Enjoy? Beware, you mean," he said dryly. "If I didn't know better I'd swear that the brats are not mine at all. Nothing that wild might have come from me."

"And this comes from a man who hid his pregnancy at school when he was sixteen, kidnapped his supposed sister, actual daughter from his parents and married before he graduated," Remus said levelly. "Never mind having more children than any other British Wizarding family in my knowledge and doing all this against his parents' exact wishes. Oh, no, Severus, you do all by the rules."

"I maybe haven't been very traditional," his friend replied, "but I sure as Hell didn't run around screaming when I was a kid. No, I sat quietly and didn't make a sound unless I was asked something."

"Well, would you prefer your children behaving perfectly and remembering you like you remember your own parents?" asked Remus. At seeing the Slytherin's grimace, he smiled a bit. "I didn't think so. Now, forget it. All children are wild by nature; it would be abnormal for them to be otherwise. If you get too frustrated, look at Janus and thank Merlin that he's not like the younger twins."

At that, Severus actually laughed. "Oh, yes," he chuckled. "Whatever possessed me to make two of my children the namesakes of two Marauders, I most certainly don't know. I should have known better."

"Yes, you should," Remus replied. Then they both grinned at each other.

In the end, despite all their problems, life was actually very good.

* * *

"Congratulations, Severus and Lucius," Poppy Pomfrey said with a smile, stepping into the room. "Sirius has just given birth to two girls and two boys. We're currently busy trying to find out which ones are yours." 

The two Malfoys broke into smiles, giving each other excited glances. This was a unique experience to them. Sure, this was not the first time they had got children. However, to Lucius this was the first time he did not worry, other than the time he'd been pregnant, and then he had most certainly not enjoyed the experience. Severus, on the other hand, was used to extreme pain and fear of death, and the one time Lucius had given birth he had been driven almost insane with worry because of his own bad memories. Now, however, there was no need to worry. There had been no problems at all to Sirius during the pregnancy, the Weasley blessing taking care of both him and the children, and besides Remus knew what he was doing. He wasn't called the best midwife in the medimagical world for nothing, after all.

Of course, this was a bit different from your usual childbirth. They were not at St. Mungo's outside a sterile delivery room full of mediwitches and mediwizards. Instead, Sirius had just given birth in one of the rooms of the Malfoy Manor, having resided in the few nearest rooms ever since he was too far along and too big to even walk in the stairs. Even though Remus nowadays was most certainly allowed to enter any delivery room he wanted, thanks to the removal of most of the werewolf restrictions, Sirius had flat-out refused to go to the hospital. He had given birth to Keith outside of the hospital, he had said, and would not go there now, either. Poppy and Remus were all the assistance he needed.

Now Lucius and Severus followed the mediwitch to the next room. Upon entering they saw Sirius lying on a large bed, looking very tired but happy, three little babies on his lap. Remus was holding the fourth baby, in the progress of casting a paternity charm on it.

"_Paterna Lucius Malfoy_," the werewolf muttered, and Severus involuntary shuddered at the memories this phrase brought up. Lucius grasped his hand reassuringly, smiling as the baby was bathed in white light. "Now, that's it," Remus muttered, placing the baby on Sirius's lap and taking another. "This one _has_ to be ours... _Paterna Remus Lupin_." And, true enough, this child was now in turn enveloped in the white glow.

"So we have a little girl." Sirius smiled, then turned towards the Malfoys. "And you have one girl and two boys more... And, by the way, you owe me a _big_ time for making me go through this."

"Your husband suggested it, and you accepted," Lucius reminded him calmly, taking one of the children he knew to be his. The child looked back at him with serious black eyes half hidden by its eyelids, a tuft of black hair on his head. "But we do owe you. So, which one of them is the girl?" he asked then.

"The redhead," Remus said with a small smile. "She's the second oldest. The one you're holding is the oldest, and the other boy is the youngest." He nodded at the two other babies, now held in Severus's arms.

"So, what are we going to name them, Severus?" asked Lucius, turning towards his husband. Seeing the darkhaired man's shocked expression, he frowned. "Severus? Is something wrong?" he asked.

"Wrong? Not... not really," muttered Severus. "It's just... look." And he turned around so that his other side was towards Lucius, nodding at the child he held on that arm, the little boy. Lucius looked. And gasped in amazement, staring at the child. Now, this was something special.

The child opened its eyes a bit, revealing baby blue eyes that would later turn grey, like his female triplet's, Lucius had noted. The adults, however, were not interested in his eyes. Instead they all looked in slight wonder at the boy's head. There, so thin and colourless that Remus and Sirius had probably missed it at their first look at the baby, grew a few strands of soft, blond hair.

"Well, now it has finally been done," Lucius said quietly, a tiny smirk tugging at the corner of his mouth. "Finally we have a child no Malfoy ancestor would be ashamed to look at -- the self-righteous bastards."

"Well," muttered Sirius, "took you certainly long enough, that." Then, he smiled. "Now, what about telling the older brats about the new additions?" he suggested cheerfully, then yawned. "And while you try to keep them from barging in here and startling the babies, I could most certainly use some rest."

"You do that," Remus said, smiling, then leant down to place a kiss on his husband's forehead, their daughter held securely in his arms. "Thank you, Sirius," he whispered. "Thank you for once again making my dreams come true." He then pulled back a bit, smiling gently at the one he loved more than anything. "By the way, do you think we could already tell my parents about their second grandchild?"

Now, the Animagus still managed a grin despite his exhaustion. "Actually, I'd like to keep it a secret until we visit them the next time," he muttered. "But as that's not really an option... Sure, go ahead. I'll sleep."

Again, Remus smiled, using his free hand to pull the covers better over his husband. Then he placed their still unnamed daughter in her crib next to the three newborn Malfoys, glanced at Poppy, who smiled at him, and then followed Severus and Lucius out of the room to inform the elder children.

Some time later Sirius frowned in his sleep, disturbed by the dream his subconsciousness had woven from past memories. Just as Poppy noticed this and was about to wake him up, however, his frown disappeared, making way to a small, almost hesitant smile gracing his lips. And then, very quietly, almost soundlessly, the darkhaired man whispered something in his sleep. Hearing his words, the mediwitch smiled as well, knowing that a cycle had now been completed and an old injustice righted.

"Happy birthday, Moony," had Sirius muttered.

* * *

THE END

* * *

A/N: Yes, it is indeed possible for one of their kids have blond hair despite Severus's dominant hair colour genes. It is very rare, but sometimes this happens; the dominant gene disappears from the chromosome, and the recessive one shows up. 

Anyway, thank you for reading this fic (and probably the others in the series, too). I'd really like to know what you thought about it, or to see you again in regards to some other fic of mine!


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